Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whistle?

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Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whistle?

Post by Faber0611 »

I ordered a 'tweaked' Freeman Mellow Dog D whistle last Sunday March 25th. On the listing, he says it can take up to 5 days to ship the whistle out, but I am still waiting for it to be shipped. I am just wondering if anyone else experienced a wait like this. I know the whistles are highly sought-after, and I am eager to try one.

While I am waiting for my Mellow Dog, I stopped in at the local music shop just on the off chance they had tin whistles. I wanted to just get one to at least get started learning. Much to my surprise, they had a Clarke in C. I bought it, but don't know if I want to keep it. I am new to the tin whistle so don't know much about what makes a quality whistle, but the Clarke reviews horribly on Amazon. Not to mention the price I paid for the Clarke was easily $10 more than the Amazon price, but at least I am supporting a local small business.

So:
1) Is this wait time for the Freeman whistles normal? I'm mostly just eager and not mad.
2) What are your thoughts on the Clarke in C?
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Re: Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whist

Post by whistlecollector »

Well, I gather Jerry is right in the middle of Four'easter country! I'd be surprised indeed if he slogged out in like sixteen feet of snow just to pop your Freeman Mellow Dog in the post!

I think perhaps just a bit of patience for anything coming out of New England the last month or so is warranted.

For what it's worth, I bout a couple things off Ebay then as well, and there was some delay in shipping. I think that's just to be expected.

Clarke whistles in general are fine. Usually they just need some adjustment to make them sound the way you want them to sound. I am suspicious in general of Amazon (on any online) reviews.
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Re: Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whist

Post by Peter Duggan »

Nine days? I think your concept of 'super long' needs redefining.
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Re: Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whist

Post by mickey66 »

I've waited more than 1 month! BUT, Jerry gave me a free Bb for the wait. :D
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Re: Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whist

Post by Latticino »

Think you need to be a bit more patient. I'm working on 8 months wait, after the promised date, for a wood flute (which admittedly requires a lot more handwork than even Jerry's excellent Mellow Dog whistles). It happens... instrument makers have lives outside our expectations. Be a bit more patient, you will undoubtedly be pleased once you get it, particularly in comparison to a non-tweaked Clarke C. Save that Clarke though. Once you have better breath control, and a good understanding of how a whistle should play from your Mellow Dog, you can do the "thumb tweak" and make it very usable.
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Re: Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whist

Post by brewerpaul »

Patience, patience....life sometimes gets in the way of good intentions. I've sometimes told a customer that I'd ship a whistle in a day or so, only to get delayed by work,family issues, etc. It'll get there.
If you were having a custom whistle made, the wait would be months to years.
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Re: Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whist

Post by Chino »

I live in Europe, I ordered on eBay a Mellow Dog D/C set the 10th of march, it was sent the 13th, and I received it the 30th of march.

But some years ago, I had ordered a Freeman tweaked Bb Generation, I received it sevreal weeks after, but it wasn't Jerry's fault, he's very serious, but a problem with custom.

Be patient, your whistle will come very soon for sure.
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Re: Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whist

Post by The Lurking Fear »

You ordered on Sun the 25th.Probably not a work day for Mr. Freeman.5 days before shipping would be earliest ship on Fri the 30th or more likely Mon the 2nd.

Unless shipped via an express mail or UPS/FedX 1st or 2nd day air I wouldn't expect it any sooner than today at the earliest.

So no long wait yet. Just speaking as someone who deals in shipping/receiving concerns.For like 40 years.

Clarkes with the new raised windway they implemented a while ago probably need some tweaking.Air hogs.
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Re: Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whist

Post by colomon »

Once you get past, say, three weeks it might be worth a gentle check-in with him... after all, things do get lost in the mail occasionally.
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Re: Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whist

Post by pancelticpiper »

Over my 40 years of acquiring Irish traditional instruments I've found that the normal gestation period for them is about the same as it is for humans.

At best.

If you venture into uilleann piping you'll find that waits of several years are common.
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Re: Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whist

Post by colomon »

pancelticpiper wrote:Over my 40 years of acquiring Irish traditional instruments I've found that the normal gestation period for them is about the same as it is for humans.

At best.

If you venture into uilleann piping you'll find that waits of several years are common.
Yes, but I think you'll find there's a bit of difference between the amount of work that goes into tweaking a whistle and building a set of pipes. I'm pretty sure the median wait I've had for a Freeman whistle was 2-3 weeks. The one time it was significantly longer than that (2-3 months), I e-mailed him, we concluded they had gotten lost in the mail, he made a fresh batch and sent them to me, and four weeks after re-starting the process from scratch I had the whistles.

Glancing over my e-mail history with him, perhaps five weeks is more reasonable than three before bugging him (again, reach out to him politely!).
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Re: Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whist

Post by Thomaston »

I’m Facebook friends with him, so know that he’s in the final stages of publishing a book he wrote. That might be slowing things down. Or not. I’ve ordered a couple of times from him over the years, and if I remember correctly it wasn’t more than about 2 weeks.
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Re: Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whist

Post by Chifmunk »

It was like a week after ordering the whistle, and you post a thread calling it a "super long wait"...? Maybe i'm in a different reality dimension. :really:
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Re: Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whist

Post by Kade1301 »

Thomaston wrote:I’m Facebook friends with him, so know that he’s in the final stages of publishing a book he wrote. ...
A book on tin whistles by any chance?
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Re: Anyone else experience super long wait for Freeman whist

Post by Thomaston »

It seems to be mostly an autobiography mixed with stories about his dog, based on his past posts. Probably has some whistle stuff, too. Here’s a link he posted:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/282911027550
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